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AHistory
History · Marion

Marion’s post office opened in 1822, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #3 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it

13 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Kenworthy Hall, a National Historic Landmark, and four historic districts with 269 buildings between them. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1850.

1822first post office
13on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
17famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Marion’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Marion began

When was Marion founded?

1822

The Marion post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Perry (1821), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 1,544 in 18502020 census: 3,176204 years

How historic is Marion?

A

More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Marion post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Marion’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marion is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #3 of 187 in Alabama. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Marion’s overall grade.
Founding era1822, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194012.2% of homes (±4.3) · typical AL town 3.2% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register13 listings, 283 historic buildings, 981 per 10,000 residents · typical AL town 2.7 · U.S. 2.4A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 88%
NewerOlder
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)#3 of 187

Alabama towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Alabama town has 2.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Marion’s 981 sits above most of its state (100% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 283 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Marion’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark13 places on the National Register, including Kenworthy Hall, a National Historic Landmark.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A historic districtThe West Marion Historic District takes in 108 historic buildings.Mapped building by building6 fire insurance maps, 1884 to 1910, drew every building in Marion.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

13 listings protect 283 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
13
National Historic Landmark
1
Kenworthy Hall
historic buildings protected
283
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Marion Female Seminary
Marion Female SeminaryChapel and Lovelace Hall, Marion Military InstitutePresident's House, Marion Institute, built 1912Green Street Historic DistrictFirst Congregational Church of MarionSiloam Baptist ChurchHenry HousePhillips Memorial Auditorium, built 1867Judson College Historic District, built 1838West Marion Historic DistrictMarion Courthouse Square Historic DistrictLincoln Normal SchoolKenworthy Hall★
BuildingsDistrictsSites★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival7
Classical Revival3
Tudor Revival2
Bungalow/Craftsman2
Colonial Revival2
Late Victorian: Italianate1
★ Landmark
Kenworthy HallLate Victorian: Italianate
Marion Female SeminaryGreek Revival
Chapel and Lovelace Hall, Marion Military InstituteClassical Style
President's House, Marion InstituteNeo-Classical · Built 1912
Green Street Historic DistrictBungaloid
First Congregational Church of MarionBuilding
Siloam Baptist ChurchGreek Revival
Henry HouseGreek Revival
All 13 listings
Phillips Memorial AuditoriumBuilding · listed 1990Judson College Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1993West Marion Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1993Marion Courthouse Square Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1996Lincoln Normal SchoolSite · listed 2022

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Start Marion’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Marion’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewStreet: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Marion came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Marion.

Read it all →

Formerly the territory of the Creek Indians, Marion was founded shortly after 1819 as Muckle Ridge. In 1822 the city was renamed in honor of Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox," hero of the American Revolutionary War. Marion incorporated as a town the same year and later became Perry County's second county seat as the hamlet of Perry Ridge was deemed unsuitable. In 1829 it upgraded from a town to a city. The old City Hall (1832) is but one of many antebellum public buildings, churches, and homes in the city today.

General Sam Houston, while between terms as 1st and 3rd president of the Republic of Texas, married Margaret Lea of Marion in the city in 1840.

ChaptersEarly historyFounding of collegesPre-Civil WarCivil War eraEarly 20th centuryCivil Rights eraRecent events

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Marion, 1819 to 2004

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1819Born hereMargaret Lea Houston is born here
  3. 1821Post officeThe Perry post office opens
  4. 1822Post officeThe Marion post office opens
  5. 1838BuiltJudson College Historic District is built
  6. 1842Post officeThe Perry post office closes
  7. 1857Born hereC.H.J. Taylor is born here
  8. 1867BuiltPhillips Memorial Auditorium is built
  9. 20th century
  10. 1904Born hereHal Kemp is born here
  11. 1912BuiltPresident's House, Marion Institute is built
  12. 1935In the archiveStreet
  13. 1938Born hereJimmie Lee Jackson is born here
  14. 1979On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  15. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 4,467
  16. 21st century
  17. 2004LandmarkKenworthy Hall named a National Historic Landmark
By decade

Marion, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s2 items
Street1935StreetStore1936Store
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown2 to date
Marion Female Seminary, Monroe & Centreville StreetsDate?Marion Female Seminary, Monroe & Centreville StreetsFirst Congregational Church of Marion, 601 Clay StreetDate?First Congregational Church of Marion, 601 Clay Street
On the map

Marion on the map, 1979 to 2002

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Marion. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Marion on the 1979 USGS mapMarion on the 1983 USGS mapMarion on the 2002 USGS map1979Marion North sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Marion.

Every building

Marion, building by building, 1884–1910

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Marion fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 11884Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Street
Retake this viewStreet, 1935

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Marion’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Marion, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0001850190019502000Peak: 4,467

Peaked at 4,467 in 1980; 3,176 people lived here in 2020.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marion’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

17 famous people were born in Marion

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Hal KempAmerican jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, ba… · b. 1904
Margaret Lea HoustonFirst Lady of the Republic/State of Texas · b. 1819
J
Jimmie Lee JacksonAmerican civil rights activist · b. 1938
C.H.J. TaylorAmerican journalist · b. 1857
E
Edythe Scott BagleyAmerican author, activist, and educator · b. 1924
John Trotwood MooreAmerican journalist, writer and local historian · b. 1858
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Marion’s post office has been open since 1822. Another post office, Perry, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Perry
1821–1842
Marion
1822–today
18201920today
Gone or out of use
Lincoln Normal SchoolschoolMarion Female SeminaryschoolMarion Public SchoolschoolPerry County High Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Marion
MarionPinecrest MemorialSaint Wilfrids

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Marion’s history

What year was Marion founded?

The Marion post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Marion rank for history?

Marion is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #3 of 187 in Alabama. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Marion?

13 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Kenworthy Hall (a National Historic Landmark since 2004) and the Marion Female Seminary (listed 1973, the first), 4 historic districts with 269 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 283 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Marion?

12% of Marion’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1982.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (7), the National Register of Historic Places (13), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.